Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1887-09-29
ENGLISH POSTAL SYSTEM.
How Our British Cousins Handle
Their Mail Matter.
Instances showing How Quickly Letters
Arc D-iiVcrcd-The Impossibiiity OF
Recovering u Missive When
Once u Has Bsen Posted.

Tho English postal system is au
excellent one. II i conducted ut
profit. The surplus money OF It's
revenues Is applied each year TO the
Improvement of the service. II:
carrier system has developed TO such Il
degree tha. letters and papers are do
livcrcd throughout the rural districts
with nearly as much frequency rs IN
tho cities. The poStman makes his
round so often that private letter
boxes are almost unknown in the En-
gliSh postal stations. In the city oi
London the mail j. collected
from the street boxes--or pillars,
rs thoy are callcd-cvcry hour
after S.l5 in the morning up to mid
night Between midnight aud S:lJ
there is an carly-morning collection nj
ihrec % clock. Ono of the mails taken
np n, the pillar-poSt for local delivery
90 To the main Office. They arc all
carried TO sub stations and from there
sent out. The system is so complete
Tor the collection and carrying out OF
letters that you can send letter by
post To the most distant part Of Lon
lion and receive n reply by mail about
as quickly rs You could send and re-
ceiyc nm answer by telegraph. b.
this mean n message seat through
the ordinary working of the telegraph
system. Tho telegraph service. also
conducted by the post-oilice, does not
compare for one moment with the
rapid mail service. The Post-Ofiicc
Department also does m express busi-
ness throughout the United Kingdom.
and even distant co'onies. This SER
vice is called the parcel posi-. 1t COR
responds To our express service. by
this post very bulky articles are ear
ricd ut n very low rate.
came into personal contact with
the iron-clad rules of tho British pos
tai system the other day when l sought
TO recover letter which had been
mailed through mistake. 1t was not
an important NATTER but in the United
States never had any trouble in get
ting back letter from the postal au-
thori,ics when I was able satisfactor-
ily to identify the letter. so / though,
the experiment was worth trying here.
j went to pillar post where post
man was To arrive ten minutes after
the letter had been put into it. i ex-
planned the matter TO friendly police
man close by. and he said there would
be no troablc in getting my letter.
had the address ,of the letter, and, n
the envelope had monogram on its
back. there was no possibility of any
mistake in identifying it. In few
moments the postman arrived. He
was dressed in blue. soldicr-like uni
form. trimmed with red. He wore q
French military cap, also blue and
trimmed with red. Over his shoulder
he carried long. loose. hempen bag.
such rs farmer might uss for gather
ing apples. There was no hook or
string TO fastcn tho mouth of the bag.
When the postman had emptied the
pos,-baxI I explained what i wished.
He was frightened at my asking for q
letter aud twisted up the bag at once,
saving he could not even consider
such u proposition. but II wished
could 20 with him 10 the station and
submit the matter there to the official In
charge. l walked along with him.
This little British postman appeared
10 be walking ut very leisurcly pace,
but soon found tha. to keep up will
him required very unusual cxertion OF
INV part. He took very short step
bu, his hobnailcl shoes came dowr
very fast ON tho sidewalk. His gai
was ut least five miles an hour going
io the station.
At tho station another official ID
blue uniform referred me 10 the in
spcctor. n short. resolutc. full-bearded
man IN civilian dress He sud moth
ing could b, done. A letter once
posted was the property OF the all
..rcssec. and the Postmastcr-Gcncra
Mas responsible for the same
until IL was delivered. II, askeS
inc 10 read the rule. / did so
and found the rulc forbade tho sur
render - mail matter. after IL wal
,uco posiei. TO the person posting It
hu' q. lie foot OF tho rulo found |